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Federal Agents Deploy High Tech to Track Protesters

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Two ICE agents film the press using smartphones in the hallway outside the immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza in New York USA on July 11 2025.  (Madison Swart/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)

Airdate: Wednesday, February 4 at 10 AM

As protests against federal immigration agents’ use of deadly force in Minneapolis spread nationwide, privacy experts are raising alarms. Immigration agencies are using facial-recognition and other tools to identify immigrants – and to track American citizens who observe or protest ICE operations. The surveillance technology allows agents to scan people’s faces and link them to government databases. It’s a practice that those targeted say amounts to intimidation and retaliation. We’ll talk about how the technologies work and what they mean for enforcement and civil liberties.

Guests:

Rachel Levinson-Waldman, director of Liberty and National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice

Sheera Frenkel, technology reporter, The New York Times; co-author, "An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination"

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